A hydrologic information system for water availability modeling

Texas water availability modeling has undergone a transition from paper-based documents to digital databases and GIS maps. This results in many discrete components: a water rights database, a GIS database, a monthly flow simulation model to quantify water availability, and an environmental flows assessment to quantify how much water should remain in Texas rivers. This dissertation examines how these components can be connected by a conceptual model and automated as a Hydrologic Information System (HIS) for Texas water availability modeling using custom GIS toolsets and data processing. The HIS is defined using three tools that combine components of the conceptual model. These tools automate the processes of water availability modeling and synthesize the conceptual model components. This dissertation also explores how desktop-based Texas water availability modeling can be informed by web services and how a services-oriented architecture for water availability modeling could be constructed. Existing hydrologic information models are used as a guide in creating an Arc Hydro Web information model as a framework for this activity. This model is demonstrated using scenarios highlighting its capabilities for representing desktop and web-informed analyses. The functionality of Arc Hydro Web is demonstrated via a use case of five associated component studies in the San Jacinto Basin illustrating the functionality of the HIS of water availability modeling in Texas. The shift from desktop-based analyses to web-enabled processing enables certain aspects of water availability modeling being moved to cloud computing. The network aspects of the Texas water availability modeling environment can be informed by web services using a centrally-stored network, negating the current system of having nearly-identical duplicate networks. This could foster communication and sharing of water resources models. It is recommended that Arc Hydro Web be implemented, that aspects of water availability modeling processing become web-enabled through the combination of web processing and web services, and that additional services be developed to meet the needs of web-based water availability modeling.